Noguera



Jan. 10. 1956 J. NOGUERA DRAFTING MECHANISMS FOR TEXTILE FIBRES FiledDec. 26, 1952 l M4 w W2 n n V W HO WM 0 JW United States PatentfODRAFTING MECHANISMS FOR TEXTILE FIBRES Joseph Noguera, Salford,Manchester, England, assignor to Casablancas High Draft Company Limited,Salford,

Manchester, England, a British company Application December 26, 1952,Serial No. 328,040

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 30, 1952 8 Claims.(Cl. 19-135) This invention relates to drafting mechanisms for textilefibres of the kind in which a number of drafting systems, each composedof consecutive pairs of rollers, are arranged side by side, the toprollers of adjoining systems being carried by an arm pivoted at the rearof the mechanism and incorporating a weighting saddle assembly whichengages intermediate necks between the aforesaid top rollers.

It is already known to apply the weighting pressure to such saddleassemblies by coil springs incorporated in the arm and it is highlydesirable that such springs have a high degree of elasticity and a goodmargin of safety so as to be capable of working for a periodof manyyears without any substantial loss in strength. It is furthermoredesirable to use springs of a free length which is much greater than theworking length so that any variations due to differences in the settingof the arm or in the diam eter of the top roller bosses will causevariations in the fiexion of the spring which are very small in relationto the total fiexion under which the springs work. These objects canonly be achieved by utilizing'springs in which, for a given pressure,the length of wire is great, so as to minimise the distortion whichtakes place in operation.

The difficulty which arises with a carrying and weighting arm, however,is that there is very little room within the arm itself to accommodatethe springs and, as a result,

, 2,729,859 Patented Jan. 10, 1956 dotted lines and some conventionalparts of the mechanism having no bearing on the invention being omitted.

In the illustrated embodiment, the invention is applied to a weightingand carrying arm composed of spaced side plates 1 and a cover portion 2which closes the space between the upper and end edges of the plates 1.In accord ance with known practice, the rear end of the arm is pivotedbetween spaced parallel bracket plates 3 which form part of a bracketassembly. This assembly is clamped, on a bar 4 fixed at the rear of thedrafting mechanism. Ap propriate catch means, not shown, are alsoprovided respectively on the arm and bracket assembly for holding downthe arm in its operative or weighting position. The forward end of thearm, i. e. the end remote from the pivotal mounting, is arranged tooverlie the intermediate necks 5, 6 and 7 between the top rollers ofadjoining drafting systems in the mechanism, each such system beingcomposed of three consecutive roller pairs 5a, 6a and 7a. a Incorporatedpartially between the arm side plates 1 is a saddle assembly whichincludes a front saddle 8 and a separate rear saddle 9. The front saddle8 is intended to Weight and carry the top rollers of the front rollerpairs 5a in the adjoining systems and to this end the saddle 8 is shapedto engage over and grip the intermediate neck S'between these toprollers. The saddle 8 is formed with an upper part 8a which is extendedrearwardly to. provide an elongated lever 10 which lies on edge betweenthe side plates 1 of the weighting arm and substantially parallelthereto. The lever 10 has a downwardly directed 1 slot 19a at its rearextremity and opening into the under the tendency has been to use shortsprings of a relatively thick wire or, in other words strong springs oflow elasticity, in order to obtain the necessary pressure. The forceobtainable from any given spring could, of course, be increased bymounting it on a lever, but the greater the ratio of the lever, thegreater the movement of the spring in relation to the movement of therollers to which pressure is applied so that the scope in this directionis, in practice, very limited.

A main object of the present invention is to overcome the foregoingdifiiculties in a simple and efiicient manner.

According to the present invention, there is provided a draftingmechanism of the kind specified wherein a saddle assembly includes twoseparate saddles, one for weighting the front top rollers and the otherfor weighting one or more of the remaining top rollers of consecutivedrafting roller pairs in adjoining systems, the action of spring meansbeing arranged to apply the weighting pres sure to one said saddlewhilst the reaction of the same spring means is arranged to apply theweighting pressure to the other said saddle. In this way it is possibleto obtain double the effect from any one spring and so it becomespossible to employ the most favourable kind of long coil springscomposed of relatively thin wire.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect, one embodiment thereof will now be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a sectionalelevation through a drafting mechanism, showing a weighting arm which ispartially broken away to expose a saddle assembly in accordance with theinvention, the bottom rollers of the mechanism being indicateddiagrammatically in chain edge of the lever, this slot being arranged toreceive a pivot pin 11 which is fixed between 'the arm side plates 1 alittle behind the rear drafting roller pairs 7a and substantiallyparallel to the axes thereof. The pin 11 thus 1 forms a pivot for thesaddle 8 from which the saddle can be released by lifting the slot 10ain the lever clear of the pin. The lever 10 is formed in its upper edgewith a cut away portion 10b the purpose of which will be clear from thefollowing description.

The rear saddle 9 is intended to carry and apply weighting pressure tothe top rollers of the middle and rear roller pairs 6a and 7a in theadjoining systems, and, to this end, the saddle 9 is shaped to bridgethe roller necks 6 and 7 and also to engage over and grip the necks asshown. The rear saddle 9 has an upper part 9a formed with an open endedlongitudinal groove 9b which opens into the top surface of the saddleupper part 9a to receive the lever 10. From the base of the groove 9b aslot 9c opens downwardly through the body of the saddle 9 and into theunder surface of this saddle between the parts which engage therespective roller necks 6 and 7. This slot is provided with a transversepin 12 which is embraced by fingers formed on a downwardly directedextension on the under edge of the lever 10, which extension projectsinto the slot 90.

Upstanding lugs 9d are formed approximately centrally on the upper faceof the saddle part 9a, one lug being located on each side of the groove9b, and a roller 13 is carried between these lugs. This roller 13 ispositioned well clear of the upper edge of the lever 10 and is locatedabove the aforesaid recess 10b in the upper edge of the lever.

Arranged to bear downwardly on the periphery of the roller 13 is one end14a of a weight transmitting lever 14. This lever 14 is arranged onedge, substantially parallel to the arm side plates 1, and is providedwith a slot 14b which opens into the approximate centre of the upperedge. The lever slot 14b is arranged to receive a pivot pin 15 secured,above the lever, between the arm plates 1. Between the under face of theend 14c of the lever 14, which is remote from the roller 13, and the topof the upper part 8a of the saddle 8 are arranged two coil springs 16which are under compression. The saddle part 8a is provided withrecesses opening into its upper face to receive the appropriate springends and the under surface of the lever end 14c is also recessed toreceive the opposite spring ends.

, With such an arrangement each spring 16 will press downwardly on thefront saddle 8 to apply weighting pressure on the top rollers of thefront roller pairs a and, through the lever 14, will also exert adownward pressure on the saddle 9 to weight the top rollers of themiddle and rear roller pairs 6a and '7 respectively. In this way boththe action and reaction of the springs 16 are utilised to apply thenecessary rollerweighting pressure. Thus, for example, it is possible touse two 8 lb. springs and thereby obtain a total spring pressure of 32lbs,

I claim:

1. Weighting means for top drawing rollers in a textile fibre draftingmechanism comprising front and rear weighting saddles, spring meansacting on the top of said front saddle to apply weighting pressurethereto, and weight transmitting lever means adapted to apply thereaction of the same said spring means to said second saddle forweighting the latter.

2. In a textile fibre drafting mechanism having adjoining draftingsystems composed of consecutive roller pairs and a top arm which ispivoted at the rear of said mechanism and overlies intermediate necksbetween the top rollers of said systems, the combination of a firstsaddle pivoted at the rear on said arm and engaging the front 'rollerneck, a second saddle engaging each rearward roller neck, spring meansacting on said first saddle to apply weighting pressure thereto, and aweight transmitting lever mounted to turn about a pivot on said top arm,under the reaction of the same said spring means, and thereby to applyweighting pressure to said second saddle.

3. A combination as claimed in claim 2 inwhich said weight transmittinglever is pivoted intermediate its length with the frontvend of saidlever overlying said first saddle and the rear end of said leverseatingon a top bearing on said second saddle, and in which said spring meansis constituted by at least one coil spring mounted under compressionbetween the top of said first saddle and the first saddle lever enters aslot opening downwardly through the body of said second saddle from thebase of 4 bottom of the forward end of said weight transmitting lever.

4. A combination as claimed in claim 3 in which each said coil springcontains a considerable length of relatively thin wire.

5. A combination as claimed in claim 4 in which said weight transmittinglever pivot is mounted transversely between side plates on said arm andengages in an upwardly directed open U-slot in said lever, and in whichsaid front saddle is rearwardly extended to provide an elongated leverwhich lies at least partially between said arm side plates andsubstantially parallel thereto, said lever being pivoted near the endremote from said first saddle on a pin which is secured between saidside plates slightly behind the rearmost drafting rollers and substantially parallel to the axes thereof.

6. A combination as claimed in claim 5 in which said front saddle leverextends through an open-ended longitudinal recess in the upper part ofsaid second saddle and in which the top bearing on said second saddlefor the rear end of said weight transmitting lever is constituted by aroller which bridges said recess above said front,

saddle lever.

7. A combination as claimed in claim 6 in which a bifurcated downwardextension on the under edge of said the open ended longitudinal groovetherein, the bifurcations on said extension engaging on each side of apin in said slot to retain said first and second saddles againstrelative longitudinal displacement.

8. A combination asclaimed in claim 7 in which said first saddleleverhas a downwardly directed Open-mouthed slot for engaging said firstsaddle pivot to facilitate dismantling of said saddles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS345,831 Clark July 20, 1886 1,694,510 Kluftin'ger Dec. 11, 19282,075,484 Truslow v Mar. 30, 1937 2,300,188 West Oct. 27, 1942 FOREIGNPATENTS 5,699 Great Britain of 1907

2. IN A TEXTILE FIBRE DRAFTING MECHANISM HAVING ADJOINING DRAFTINGSYSTEMS COMPOSED OF CONSECUTIVE ROLLER PAIRS AND A TOP ARM WHICH ISPIVOTED AT THE REAR OF SAID MECHANISM AND OVERLIES INTERMEDIATE NECKSBETWEEN THE TOP ROLLERS OF SAID SYSTEMS, THE COMBINATION OF A FIRSTSADDLE PIVOTED AT THE REAR ON SAID ARM AND ENGAGING THE FRONT ROLLERNECK, A SECOND SADDLE ENGAGING EACH REARWARD ROLLER NECK, SPRING MEANSACTING ON SAID FIRST SADDLE TO APPLY WEIGHTING PRESSURE THERETO, AND AWEIGHT TRANSMITTING LEVER MOUNTED TO TURN ABOUT A PIVOT ON SAID TOP ARM,UNDER THE REACTION OF THE SAME SAID SPRING MEANS, AND THEREBY TO APPLYWEIGHTING PRESSURE TO SAID SECOND SADDLE.